Conference USA Tournament: No. 5 Rice vs. No 12. Southern Miss

With 12 of the 14 teams in Conference USA making the league tournament every year, it’s easy to take the post season for granted. Try telling that to the Golden Eagles upon their first trip back to the tourney since 2014.
Eagles see their tournament run end just as quickly as it started with an 86-75 loss.
Southern Miss head men’s basketball Coach Doc Sadler said, “We weren’t satisfied. Everybody talks about us finally getting to come back and all those things, but we came over here really wanting to win. And we thought we could win. And so we’re disappointed, but at the same time as I told the team after the game, these three guys, Quinton, Raheem and Mike have, I hope, started building our program back by getting here”
Southern Miss was the only team in this year’s tournament without any post-season experience. USM’s win total in league play has gone up each of Doc Sadler’ first three seasons in Hattiesburg.